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Task force wants to restore Amtrak service in Emporia

Proponent: Passenger service would boost economy

The Rev. Andrew McHenry, pastor at First Congregational Church in Emporia, is among those spearheading an effort to bring Amtrak service back to the Lyon County city. McHenry grew up in Topeka and was pastor at Maple Hill Community Congregational Church before moving to Emporia in 2008.

EMPORIA — The Rev. Andrew McHenry, pastor of the First Congregational Church in Emporia, remembers a trip his family took to the West Coast in the 1970s. The bus trip west seemed to take forever, but the return trip on trains is forever imprinted in his memory.

McHenry remembers peering out of the windows of the train at the scenery and watching the activity in the dining cars.

“The train was the best because we could get up and move around,” he said.

It is that nostalgia as well as the potential for economic development that is fueling McHenry’s — and others’ — desire to bring Amtrak service back to Emporia and build a new train depot to serve as a passenger stop.

The old train station was destroyed in a blaze in 1999 after Amtrak had discontinued service to the city.

McHenry, who grew up in Topeka and was pastor at Maple Hill Community Congregational Church before he moved to Emporia in 2008, is part of the Emporia Amtrak Task Force, which recently filed for nonprofit status with the Kansas Secretary of State’s Office and is looking for funding for an impact study for the new depot.

Other members of the task force are Lyon County Undersheriff John Koelsch, Emporia resident Phil Dillon and Casey Woods, executive director of Emporia Main Street.

McHenry said the effort to restore Amtrak service was initiated about two years ago.

Task force members have been talking with Amtrak and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad staff, Emporia State University officials and community leaders about restoring Amtrak service and the benefits it would bring to the community. BSNF owns the tracks on which Amtrak’s Southwest Chief runs.

McHenry said an Amtrak ridership study indicated its usage has increased by 50 percent during the past few years.

The train service in Emporia could be utilized by senior citizens who can no longer drive and international students who have no other means of transportation, he said.

In addition to providing transportation to those needing to catch flights at the Kansas City or Wichita airports, the train service could bring people into Emporia to shop, attend business meetings or visit family or the city’s attractions.

“Everywhere Amtrak goes,” he said, “it leaves an economic footprint.”

McHenry said task force members are scouting potential sites for the train station.

“We want to build it at a place where students can get to,” he said. “We want the place to be practical — something that will be equivalent to a highway rest stop, a building of that size and cost.”

Because a specific building plan hasn’t been approved yet, the cost of the train station is undetermined.

However, Amtrak may be facing more urgent challenges in the future.Amtrak officials recently said passenger service to western Kansas could be lost unless funding is found to rehabilitate the track.

At issue is a pending request for a $15 million federal grant that would be matched with $4 million from Amtrak, $2 million from BNSF and $3 million from Kansas to finance maintenance work on the line. That $24 million package would initiate an upgrade campaign, but more work would be required in the future.

The cost of additional work to 600 miles of track between central Kansas and Albuquerque is estimated at $200 million.

AMTRAK EFFORT

To learn more about the Emporia Amtrak Task Force and its efforts to restore Amtrak service to Emporia, call the Rev. Andrew McHenry at (785) 220-9920 or email him at pastorandrew70@yahoo.com.